Global Courant
The federal Conservatives swept to victory on Monday to fill a seat that became vacant after MP Bob Benzen stepped down last year.
Benzen, who was elected to represent the area in 2017, announced he would resign his Calgary Heritage seat and return to private life late last year.
Most of Calgary Heritage used to be part of the riding of Calgary Southwest, a seat held by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper until his retirement.
With Shuvaloy Majumdar, former policy adviser to Stephen Harper and former Conservative Secretary of State John Baird, the vote stayed true to the vote, winning 65 percent of the vote.
“We messaged Justin Trudeau tonight, didn’t we?” Majumdar said to loud cheers.
“I wanted to go to the Liberals’ headquarters and invite them to our celebration here tonight. The only problem was that there were no direct flights from Calgary to Beijing.’
Majumdar, right, takes a selfie with supporters. (Todd Korol/The Canadian Press)
Liberal candidate Elliot Weinstein and NDP candidate Gurmit Bhachu were virtually tied for second and third with just a few polls to go.
Safe conservative seat
Voter turnout was low, with just over 28 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot.
“This is seen as a safe Conservative seat,” said Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
‘There’s not much going on. It’s pretty sleepy.’
Majumdar said he had thousands of conversations while driving during the campaign and Canadians are in pain.
“I’ve seen the pain. I’ve seen the pain. I’ve seen tears well up in our neighbors’ eyes. I’ve seen their throats choke from the pressures of their daily lives. I see you. You are heard and thank you for trusting me,” he said.
Majumdar addresses supporters as he holds hands with Marlene Poilièvre, the mother of Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilièvre, after winning the by-election. (Todd Korol/The Canadian Press)
He also paid tribute to his heritage.
“What an amazing thing it is that this child born of Indian descent… was able to go on to serve in the highest offices of this country and now stands before you as the next Conservative Member of Parliament for Calgary Heritage.”
Four by-elections held on June 19 drew more attention, with the Liberals and Conservatives winning two each.
“Every one of them had something interesting going on,” Williams said.
Two seats held by high-profile Manitoba politicians remained vacant following the death of Liberal Cabinet Secretary Jim Carr and the resignation of former Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen.
Carr’s son Ben Carr won the Winnipeg South Center seat for the Liberals and Conservative Branden Leslie won in Portage-Lisgar, a People’s Party of Canada riding leader Maxime Bernier also ran.
“It was something that made it look like there could be some win or loss and we don’t see that here,” said Williams.
“There was nothing that caught the eye, nothing that looked like it would make any difference.”
